Destination Review: Grand Turk

Our cruise leading up to Grand Turk had been amazing. We had kept busy but still relaxed. I knew our last stop in Grand Turk would be nothing but a chill day at the beach. And I could not wait.

It's unreal how close the ship docks to the shore. There's a massive drop off that allows for that to happen. From the ship you see the light, teal blue water and then there's a line of buoys and on the other side of that line it's extremely dark blue. It's so crazy!

Anyway, I don't know anything about our timeframe while we were on shore in Grand Turk. I know that we stayed off the ship close to as long as possible. Everything in between is a total time warp. We laid out on the loungers that are provided for cruisers, we snorkeled (if you go out to the buoy line where the drop off is, there are some large and colorful fish out there! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from snorkeling.), and we laid out some more. We knew we wanted to find a place called Jack's Shack and get a snack there, but first Scott and I wanted to find the Conch Graveyard I had heard about.

To get to the conch graveyard, you would turn right off of the pier and follow the beach along the shore. Apparently the "graveyard" is made up of hundreds of conch shells that have had the meat pulled out by restaurants and then they dump the shells in this location. You are not allowed to take living things back on board the ship, but since the shells are empty, it's ok to take one. At least, that's what I had read, and when we went through security later on, there was not issue. So we walked down and while I was picking out a shell to bring home Scott walked further down the shoreline. I didn't go down that way, but he said it was pretty neat over there. There were a few people, but not many at all. Maybe next time...

When Scott came back, we went back to Darby and Marc and the four of us gathered our stuff and walked the little ways down the beach to get to Jack's Shack. It's about half a mile, just a little less, down the beach from the pier. It's a bit far to walk in sand, but I will say, I personally think it's worth it. If you're up for a walk along the beach, make the trip down to Jack's Shack. There were only a few people sitting outside at the tables, and the beach in front of the restaurant was empty. It could have been the time of day that we were there, but I'd walk down that way first thing the next time we are in Grand Turk. Before settling on the beach we got a table on the deck and ordered some drinks and conch fritters. In all my cruises to the caribbean I had never tried these before. They were so yummy! I think we ended up getting a second order because the four of us scarfed them down pretty fast.

After our snack Darby and I went into the water for a little bit. There are some lounge chairs on the beach in front of Jack's Shack. They are free to paying customers. We pulled a couple down to the edge of the water and relaxed some more.

Too soon we decided we should head back so that we could do a little shopping before we got back on the ship. We didn't have long to shop, and in my opinion the shopping area was a bit over priced, but it did have some neat stuff.

We will definitely go back to Grand Turk some time. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I know there are excursions you can book, but I'd be just fine doing the exact same thing we did during this visit. :)

Destination Review: San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan is definitely ranked among my top favorite cruise stops ever! I love all things beachy, but this stop just pulled me in and I didn't want to leave. We were on this cruise with my best friend and her husband. I researched key places to visit, and had a map of some places I was hoping to make it to, but decided to leave it and just go with the flow. I knew for absolute sure that I wanted to see El Morro, an amazing fortress overlooking the ocean. More on that soon. :)

Once off the ship we made a quick stop at a Walgreens, took a few pictures with the ship, and then our adventure began.

I was hoping to make our way to the outside of the original city wall where I had seen there was a path we could follow. I kept stopping to take pictures of things and I am pretty sure that is why Darby and Marc decided to find the Free Trolley that went around the island, hitting major landmarks. Not that I blame them. We had been walking for 45 minutes and had only made it a couple blocks. :) So we decided to text each other after a couple hours and parted ways. (Quick side note: Because San Juan is a US Territory, it is included in our cell phone coverage. We have AT&T, but I assume other carriers would be the same. Always check, just in case!) Scott and I followed a sidewalk that took us to Paseo de la Princesa, a beautiful promenade area that overlooks the ocean and leads to the city gate. As best I can tell, this is also where the original walls of Old San Juan begin. Along the promenade we came to the impressive Raices Fountain. At this point we were about half a mile from the pier.

We continued our way along the promenade and decided to see just how far around the outside we could go. Turns out, it's pretty far. Well, further than I expected anyway. From Raices Fountain we walked as far as the path would take us, around to the North side of the island. It was about a mile from the fountain to this point. All along the way we would stop to look at parts of the incredible wall, or the lookout towers at the top of the wall, or the massive waves that splashed against the rocks that lined the path. Scott and I spent a lot of time on the path, but didn't even realize it.

After reaching the end and spending some time there, we made our way back to the city gate to get into the actual city of Old San Juan. We turned and made our way back along the city wall, only from the top this time. I knew that we had passed El Morro from below so it made sense to follow it again from the top. Of course we stopped for other photo ops. There's just so much neat architecture and foliage. I can't help it.

We were heading up a hill and as we went over the crest of the hill, there it was. The massive front lawn of El Morro, with people playing soccer, having picnics, and flying kites, was even better than I imagined. I may have even choked back a tear or two. It was breathtaking! I just stood there taking it in for a few minutes.

Eventually I got myself together and we started our walk across the lawn. Rather than going right up to the fort, we went across to the old cemetery. (I looked it up after we got home. It's called Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery ) The cemetery sits on the North side within the city walls and over looks the ocean. It's stunning to see from any angle.

From there we walked up to the fort. From far away it's huge. When you're standing on the bridge that crosses into the fort, it's gargantuan. There's just no other word for it.

I was so glad we got to experience seeing El Morro. We chose to not go inside because we still wanted to walk across Old San Juan and get to the other fort before getting back on the ship. I know for next time though, that it's only $5 to get inside, and that cost includes also getting into Fort San Cristobal. Before heading that direction there were two things I wanted to do. I wanted to lay in the grass and look up at the kites flying, and I wanted to fly a kite on the lawn. I found a place to lay and enjoyed the peaceful feeling for a little while. I didn't get to fly a kite. It WILL happen next time though. Next time we visit I plan to take a blanket and a kite, and extra time. I just really need more time. :)

It was around this time that we were also texting Marc and Darby. We had sort of crossed paths, but didn't see each other. Their trolley stopped at El Morro, but not for long. We decided to just continue spending the day doing our own thing and we would meet back on the ship at some point. Scott and I left El Morro, sticking to a sidewalk that went along the city wall and led us right to Fort San Cristobal. It was less than a mile long walk to get from one fort to the other. We didn't spend much time at San Cristobal. From the outside I wasn't blown away the way I had been with El Morro. From what I've read though, it's pretty awesome. So I'm thinking if we had paid to go in I would have loved it also. The first picture below is of San Cristobal and taken from the ship. The other is the ship taken from San Cristobal.

We spent the rest of our time walking around the middle of the city, looking for souvenirs and something local to eat. We found a little place called Cafeteria Mallorca. I can't find a website, but I did find a well deserved review Here. We knew nothing about this place, but it had delicious looking pastries in the window and a legit menu hanging in the window too. We didn't order a full meal, but we wanted to make sure we tried something we couldn't get back home. I have no idea the names of what we ordered, but mine was cookie-ish and Scott got a cake-y something. So helpful, right? :) From what I saw while looking for a website, it doesn't seem that you can go wrong with anything you order from Cafeteria Mallorca. If it works out, it is definitely a place I'd like to return to whenever I'm visiting again.

We took our snack to a courtyard area and ate while we people watched. It was so nice. Other than a pesky pigeon getting too close, it was lovely to sit and watch the sights and sounds of Old San Juan. The cobblestone streets, the brightly colored buildings, birds chirping and locals speaking... I loved it all.

Way too soon it was time to go. I'm always a little bummed when it's time to get back on the ship, but I was borderline sad this time. I needed another day in San Juan. :) I'll end this review with pictures of El Morro that we took while sailing away. We stayed until we couldn't make out the shape of the fort anymore. :)

We're DREAMing of the Caribbean

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!! Our son has been hinting... okay, not so much hinting, but requesting, to go on a cruise for his 13th birthday. We have been putting him off, stalling, making excuse after excuse, with reasons why that won't happen. What he doesn't know is that before we were even finished with our Last Cruise, we had decided we wanted to do that. Do to a number of reasons, waiting until now was unavoidable. Fortunately it gave me plenty of time to look up options. We decided on a 7 day cruise, out of New Orleans, on the Carnival Dream.

Let the countdown begin!!

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